


Why Can't I Fly?

by 989fox989



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Minor Angst, Scientific Method
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-23 14:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18153062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/989fox989/pseuds/989fox989
Summary: Scootaloo asks a question.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The rough draft for this was first written around 3 years ago, based on a random thought I had. I then forgot about it for quite a while before finding it again. I haven't kept up with Friendship is Magic lately, so I have no idea if there's an episode in Season 7 or 8 that contradicts this fic.

Rainbow Dash flew through the sky without a care in the world.  She did several loop-de-loops before finally landing atop a cloud; she looked down towards the world below her.  As she surveyed the land, she spotted Scootaloo on the ground looking up at her. Rainbow Dash hopped off her cloud and zoomed down to Scootaloo.

“Hey squirt, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked.  Scootaloo did not respond. It was then that Rainbow noticed the forlorn expression on Scootaloo’s face.  “Scootaloo? Are you doing okay?”

“Rainbow Dash…” Scootaloo started weakly and then paused, before continuing, “…how old were you when you were first able to fly?”

Rainbow considered the question, “I guess I first started when I was 1 or 2, maybe earlier…” Rainbow then suddenly realized the probable reason Scootaloo asked the question in the first place.

“Wait, you haven’t been able to fly yet, yet have you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Scootaloo nodded her head slowly.

“But I’m way older than 2!  So, I should be able to fly! Right?”  Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash intently, a desperate look in her eyes.

“was there anything special you did before you first flew around?  Are there any special training exercises? Do I need to eat a special diet with proteins or antioxidants or whatever?”

Rainbow stood there unsure of how to respond.  She desperately wanted to help her friend, but she honestly couldn’t think of anything special about the time she first flew.  She just… flew. And that was it. She desperately searched inside herself for an answer but came up blank. She noticed tears starting to form in Scootaloo’s eyes and Rainbow instantly felt regret and failure, like she had let Scootaloo down.

“Do you think,” Scootaloo choked back a sob, “do you think there’s something wrong with me?  That I might never fly?”

Rainbow continued to stare blankly desperately trying to think of something.  If only she were smart, like Twilight; she would think of something. Rainbow then mentally smacked herself.  Of course! Twilight! She always had an answer to every problem. She brightened up a little as she said: “Hey, let’s go talk to Twilight.  She’s a total egghead, she probably knows exactly what to do to help you. And if she doesn’t, she’ll have a book that will help, I just know it.”  Scootaloo seemed to a brighten up a little too.

“Yeah, heh, she probably does.”

The two made their way to Twilight Sparkle’s house.  Rainbow knocked on the door rapidly before it was finally opened by Twilight herself.

“Rainbow Dash, you don’t have to knock so vigorously—“ Twilight started admonishingly.

“Sorry, Twilight,” Rainbow cut in, “but this really important, can we come inside?”

Twilight seemed to notice the sad atmosphere around them both and let them inside.  They all sat around Twilight’s house awkwardly, neither Dash or Scootaloo seeming to know how to start or even who should do the initial talking.

Finally, Scootaloo burst out, “Why can’t I fly?”

Twilight was taken aback by the suddenness of the question.  “Well…” she started, “I must admit I’ve been wondering the same thing myself, though I’ve never put too much thought into it before.”  She stared off into the distance, apparently lost in thought. “I initially thought that you were just a late bloomer but you seem to be developing normally in all other regards.”  She inspected Scootaloo closely. “you seem to be the appropriate height and weight for a filly your age. Your head, legs, and wings all seem the right size too…”

“Wait,” Scootaloo piped up, “you just said that my wings are a normal size for a filly my age.  Doesn’t that mean that they should be big enough for me to fly?”

Twilight considered the question briefly.  “The size doesn’t actually matter that much.  If you want to get technical, all pegasi wings are too small for them, ponies are simply not very aerodynamic, pegasi are mostly held aloft by magic, the wings are largely vestigial.  That’s why baby pegasi are sometimes able to fly, all baby ponies are prone to sudden magical outbursts—“ Twilight suddenly frowned and then ran to a bookshelf and started to pull book after book out of her bookshelf, looking at the cover of each briefly before throwing it behind her.  Finally, she took one of the books and plopped it open on a nearby desk.

“I’ve got it!  All this time I thought that Scootaloo’s problem was physical but what if it’s magical?”  She flipped through the pages quickly. “here we go! Magical deficiency! Ponies with magical deficiency are shown to be unable to access the magical abilities normally granted to ponies are their type.”

“wait a minute,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, “I thought magic was something only unicorns did?”

“That’s a common misconception,” said Twilight authoritatively, “in actuality, ponies of all types have magic powers.  Unicorns have telekinesis, Pegasi have buoyancy powers, and Earth Ponies have incredible strength and stamina—“

“Wait,” Rainbow said, interrupting yet again, “does that mean that all those times AJ complained about me cheating by flying she was cheating by using her Earth Pony Strength?

“I… guess?” Twilight responded.  “More to the point; if Scootaloo was magically deficient it could explain why she can’t fly.”

“well, great we know the cause, so now just look in that book for a cure!”  Rainbow interjected.

“First off,” Twilight said, ”there is no known cure for magical deficiency, second we don’t know if Scootaloo is actually magically deficient.”

“but you just said that she was!”  Rainbow responded.

“I said it  _ could explain _ why she can’t fly, “Twilight said, trying to hide her exasperation, “not that it  _ was  _ why she can’t fly.  It’s only a hypothesis.”

“you mean like a theory?”

“no, a theory is actually… that’s not the point.  The point is: we don’t actually know if that’s the cause or not.  It just might be.”

“how can we find out?” asked Scootaloo who had been silent for so long that Rainbow and Twilight had almost forgotten she was in the room listening to them.

“I’m glad you asked, Scootaloo.” Twilight answered having gained a seeming spring in her step, “the best way to find out if a hypothesis is true or not is with an experiment!”

The zeal in Twilight's voice was countered by the annoyance by Rainbow Dash as she rolled her eyes.  “Ugh, not your egghead science stuff.”

Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash, “you came to me for egghead science help, you get egghead science help.  And I’ll have you know that experiments are, de facto, the best way to see if something is true or not.”

“and what type of experiment would we do?”  Rainbow countered, “Throw her up in the air and see if she flies?!”

“of course not,” Twilight answered, “we already know that Scootaloo cannot currently fly.  Our experiment would have to be centered entirely by her magic ability. A test. Something that would go one way if she was magic deficient and another way if she wasn’t.  Something regardless of her ability to fly.”

“That’s stupid,” said Rainbow Dash, “the ability to fly is just the ability to fly.  There’s nothing else to it.”

Twilight considered that for a few seconds.  She took another book off the bookshelf, held it in front of her and flipped through the pages.  She read a bit before finally placing the book down on the desk next to the first book

“I’ve got it.  Clouds! Pegasi can stand on clouds and are capable of doing so since birth, which is why so many of them live up in Cloudsdale.  Scootaloo, you were born in Ponyville, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’ve never been to Cloudsdale or stood on a cloud, right?”

“I… don’t think I have,” Scootaloo responded.

“So if she’s never stood on a cloud,” added Rainbow Dash, “does that mean she’s magically deficient?”

“No, Rainbow Dash.  Just because she hasn’t done so doesn’t mean that she can’t.  That’s why we have to do an experiment.”

Rainbow and Scootaloo looked towards each other.  “What kind of experiment?” Scootaloo asked.

Twilight flexed her own wings and opened the door, “come outside with me.”

She went outside and looked up into the sky, Rainbow and Scootaloo followed her.

Finally, Twilight spotted a particularly fluffy cloud and said, “there.  For this experiment, we will judge Scootaloo’s ability to stand on a cloud in order to determine whether or not she is magically deficient.”  Twilight spoke in a business-like voice, she hadn’t done a real experiment in quite a long time and she wanted to make sure that this one was done as professionally and correctly as possible.

Rainbow, personally, thought that Twilight was enjoying this a little too much.

“First, I will grab Scootaloo and fly above the cloud, Rainbow Dash will hover below the cloud.  I will then drop Scootaloo onto the cloud. If she lands on the cloud she is not magically deficient and there is another reason for her current inability to fly.  On the other hand, if she falls through the cloud, Rainbow Dash will catch her and we will conclude that she likely is magically deficient.”

She turned around to the two ponies behind her “okay, everyone knows their positions, let’s do this!”  She then noticed the apprehension on both of their faces “you are okay with this experiment, right Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo thought nervously.  The thought of doing this experiment terrified her for a reason that she couldn’t quite place.  She had no idea what was worse: not knowing why she couldn’t fly, or knowing that there was nothing that could be done about it.  She also didn’t quite know how she felt about falling through a cloud. She trusted Rainbow Dash, but what if something went wrong?

“I think we should do it.”  Said Rainbow Dash; Scootaloo turned towards her.  “if we don’t know what’s wrong we can’t do anything about it.  But if we know, then we can figure out what to do next.” She smiled weakly, trying to be strong for Scootaloo.

Scootaloo nodded, “let’s do this.”

\---

All three of them were in the sky, their hearts all beating rapidly.

“Are you ready Rainbow Dash?”  Asked Twilight.

“Ready” Rainbow Dash responded.

Twilight hesitated, breathed in and out and then dropped Scootaloo.

She watched Scootaloo fall down, hit the cloud and then continue falling straight through where Rainbow Dash quickly caught her.

It was as if, for a moment, the whole world had paused as they all considered the weight of what had just happened.  Tears entered Scootaloo’s eyes again.

“so… that’s it… I’m never going to be able to fly.”

Rainbow Dash stayed silent, Twilight simply said, “I’m so sorry Scootaloo.”  In her head though, she considered if that was really it. She didn’t say anything out loud, but she felt like there had to be something she could do.  Some way that Scootaloo could fly. She just had to think of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twilight considers the problem.

Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight Sparkle’s house.  She landed by the front door and slowly knocked on it.

Twilight meanwhile was caught up in reading and only barely noticed the knock.  She looked up from her book and quickly flew over to the door and opened it.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash as she walked into the door.  She looked around a bit before continuing “Scootaloo’s still really upset about the magical deficiency thing.  She’s putting on a brave face, but it’s really upsetting for her, knowing that she can’t fly. Don’t know if she’s told her parents about it yet or not.”  She suddenly stopped talking and sighed.

Twilight nodded sadly.  It had been a little more than a week since the three of them had done their experiment and determined that Scootaloo lacked magic of any kind.  Since then Twilight had become much more reclusive than before. She poured over book after book trying to find out whatever she could about magical deficiency.

Rainbow Dash suddenly turned towards Twilight and asked, “are you sure that there’s nothing that we can do?  I feel so useless, being unable to help her!”

“I’ve actually been researching possible ways to help Scootaloo,” Twilight responded, “I’ve been going from book to book.  I’ve even sent letters to Princess Celestia asking her if there was anything she knew.” Twilight paused as Rainbow Dash leaned in expectantly.  “There was actually a moment where I thought I had come across a solution. I realized that if Princess Celestia was able to turn me into an alicorn, there should be some way for her to give magic power to Scootaloo.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly flew up with excitement, “Hey, that’s actually a really good idea!  Why didn’t I think of that?” she added.

Twilight nodded again, “unfortunately that avenue turned out to be a dead end.”

Rainbow fluttered down with disappointment, “How come?” she asked slightly more aggressively than she had intended.

“It turns out,” Twilight responded, “that Princess Celestia wasn’t actually able to give me more magical power than I originally had.  According to her, all potential alicorns --such as myself-- are born with an excess of magic; much more than we could normally use on our own.  She referred to the processing as being more akin to unlocking a dam than any actual transformation. Once an alicorn has their potential ‘unlocked’, the excess power goes towards the other two pony abilities.  She also described advanced alicorn magic where magic can be funneled  _ out _ of one ability and into another one allowing them to strengthen one particular ability for a short time.  She even described an even more advanced and rare type of magic where magic ability is funneled in a special way allowing two abilities to be used simultaneously and form a new ability that acts as a fusion of the two abilities.”

Rainbow Dash stared blankly, she was starting to lose track of this conversation.

Twilight noticed the look on her friend’s face and realized that she had gone off topic.  She cleared her throat and started again, “the important part is: magic can’t be created or destroyed.  Ponies can neither gain nor lose any magic power. They’re stuck with the amount they’re born with, essentially.”

“So that’s it then.” Responded Rainbow Dash.  “There’s no way to give magic power to a pony without magic.”

“Pretty much.” Said Twilight sadly.

Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a look “Pretty much?”  She repeated, “Is there more to it than that?”

“Well…” Twilight started, “there are some edge cases I’ve found that can allow ponies to gain or lose magic power.”  She paused as she gathered her thoughts. “There are some beings like Tirek who can remove magic power from a Pony and give the power to themselves.  And similarly, in order to combat Tirek, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were able to  _ temporarily  _ move their magic power to me.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, “I’m guessing there are problems with both of those right?  Else you would have started with them.”

“Correct,” Twilight responded, “it’s actually the same problem.  Although there are ways to move magic power, actually using the power in the intended way is something else.  For example, Tirek’s abilities included draining others and shooting lasers. So, when Tirek drains a pony he can only use the magic power for those two abilities.  To put it another way, when Tirek drains a pegasus he doesn’t gain buoyancy and when he drains a unicorn he doesn’t gain telekinesis. He can steal raw magical power but not the actual magical abilities.

Similarly, when the other princesses gave me their power, that only worked the way it did because all four of us were alicorns.  Were they to give their power to a unicorn, said unicorn would only gain an increase to their unicorn abilities; the same is true if they gave their powers to an Earth Pony or a Pegasus.  Ponies can only use magic power towards their own abilities.

“Princess Celestia told me that the process is temporary anyway.  After moving magic power from one pony to another, the power would eventually start a gradual shift back to the first pony.  It would take 2 or 3 months for the power to fully return but only a week for the power loss to become noticeable, it's really only good as a temporary solution.”

Twilight paused again and grabbed a glass of water which she drank before continuing.  “The problem with Scootaloo’s case is that magically deficient ponies have neither magical power  _ nor  _ abilities.  Even if we were to give her magic power she wouldn’t have any abilities to channel that power into.  She’d be in the same situation she’s in right now.”

“but what if you unlock her abilities or whatever?” asked Rainbow Dash, “couldn’t Celestia give Scootaloo the ability to funnel magic into flying, like she did for you?”

“I wish it were that simple,” answered Twilight, “unlocking magic abilities requires a very complicated ritual and a great deal of magic power in both the caster and the recipient.  Using the ritual on a pony with a normal amount of magic power could severely harm them, using it on a pony with no magic power or ability would have a  _ very  _ high chance of resulting in death.”

Both ponies paused to accept the gravity of what Twilight had said.  Twilight looked up in thought for a few seconds, “I suppose that Luna, Cadence, or myself could temporarily give our magic power to Scootaloo, after which Celestia could perform the ritual on Scootaloo.  I would be extremely worried about using the ritual on a pony with borrowed magic. It’s never been done before, as far as I or Celestia know, so the results would be unpredictable.”

“But it could work?” added in Rainbow Dash, “If you don’t know what’s going to happen that means there’s a chance it’ll give Scootaloo magical abilities?”

“Yes,” Twilight said flatly, “it might unlock her ability to fly.  It might also kill both her and the pony who donated the power. Or create an explosion so huge that the casualties would be widespread across Equestria.  It’s too big a risk, rituals like this are extremely dangerous and almost always end catastrophically if they aren’t followed to the letter.” She paused again and thought for a moment before continuing, “I honestly think the best-case scenario if we did the ritual, would be if the magic power suddenly returned to the donor.  In that case, only Scootaloo would be at risk of death. To put it bluntly, we can’t use the ritual, not without several years of research and experiments first. And even then I’d be hesitant.

“That’s all pretty sucky, ya know” Rainbow said bluntly, “so basically there’s nothing anyone can do?  You’ve gone through every possibility?”

“That’s how it looks.”  Said Twilight, “I’ve been doing as much research as I can on magical deficiency, trying to see if there’s anything that can be done.  Anything that anyone missed. Any way to solve the problem indirectly without actually affecting her magic abilities.”

“Anything?”  Rainbow Dash asked without any hope.

“Besides giving her a hat to wear with a propeller on it?  Nothing. And even that wouldn’t give her full control over her flight.  She’d mainly be able to use it to go upwards and hover; both of which can also be done more efficiently with a hot air balloon.

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I’ve looked at everything and there’s really nothing that anyone can do.”

“Ugh, this is stupid!” Rainbow suddenly burst out, “so… what?  Celestia and the rest of the alicorns are too weak to do anything?  What if we used someone stronger than Celestia?” Rainbow Dash was fighting a losing battle as she tried to keep her voice from dripping with venom.  This whole situation was just so frustrating. She hated having stuff that was completely out of her control, she hated being told she couldn’t do something, and most of all she hated giving up.

“No one is stronger than Celestia.”  Twilight immediately responded trying not to sound too upset over the perceived sacrilege.  She knew that Rainbow had good reason to be upset.

“You don’t know that,” Rainbow Dash retorted “what about Discord?  He stole our wings and horns and put them in a box. After that, we couldn’t fly or use magic.  Or are you going to tell me that there was some stupid thing going on with that too?”

“Actually…” Twilight started before she paused, she suddenly flew over to her bookshelves and started frantically pulling out book after book.  She regarded and rejected the books at a speed which Rainbow found dizzying. Even when Twilight did open a book to read it contents she almost immediately threw it behind her onto a pile which was growing ever larger.  After exhausting her search, Twilight flew back to Rainbow Dash

“It has just occurred to me,” said Twilight, “that there is remarkably little literature written on draconequi.  I’m not even certain if that should be plural, Discord might be the only one.” Twilight paused for a second then continued.  “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but Rainbow Dash, I believe you’ve just hit upon a major breakthrough!”

“I did?” asked Rainbow, “I mean… of course I did!  So Discord? you think he’s the solution?”

“Maybe!” Said Twilight who was slowly getting more excited.  She paced back and forth and flapped her wings energetically.  “I was so preoccupied with techniques that I was knowledgeable on, that I never even considered looking into something that no one really knows anything about.  I honestly have no idea how Discord was able to remove our magical abilities, but if he could do so easily, without any dangerous ritual; it stands to reason that he should be able to grant magical abilities too.  Hypothetically of course. I don’t want to get too excited yet, but our next step is clear. We need to find Discord and ask him directly if he can do what we want him to do.” She stopped, “I have no idea how we’re going to find Discord…”

“Aren’t he and Fluttershy doing a weekly tea thing?” Rainbow Dash asked, “Let’s just go to Fluttershy’s cottage and ask him there.”

“Right,” said Twilight, “to Fluttershy’s cottage!”


End file.
